


Changing of the Tides

by thecrystallinecryptid



Category: Cookie Run (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:09:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25940389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecrystallinecryptid/pseuds/thecrystallinecryptid
Summary: Pirate Cookie is given a chance to have a career that's more... clean than stealing treasure. It has just as much adventure, and an even greater reward than the old gig, but... he serves no one. Then again, Sorbet still doesn't know that pirates are thieves yet, since the cookie has only been around for Pirate's adventures that didn't involve thievery. Normally, Pirate Cookie would think nothing of letting go of a softie crew member, but... Now he has to choose between his life as a pirate and the cookie who saved him from being scattered across the waves.And it only gets worse when an old acquaintance rises from the depths... with a new arrival in tow.(I basically only have the main plotpoints planned, so I'm coming up with a good bit of this as I go, meaning that some parts are subject to change. I will, however, make sure to say when a chapter has been changed, so check the notes every now and then.)(Chapter 9 in progress.)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

"So, why am I here?"

The pirate had been following the merchant's son for an awkwardly long amount of time, and yet the aforementioned cookie showed no signs of feeling awkward. In fact, he had been wearing a grin for almost the entire trip. It may have been because he had been leading Pirate Cookie through guard-lined gate after secret tunnel after hidden hallway for multiple minutes. Perhaps Yogurt Cream Cookie thought that the other was impressed with whatever he was about to be shown, since it required this much security. Now that Pirate Cookie's question had broken the silence, the other turned his head to glance at the captain. "We're almost there..." he said, before looking forward again. Pirate Cookie rolled his candy eye. At this point, "almost there" could mean five more minutes of walking in silence, or at least three more secret doors, or-

...

Or perhaps it was the glimmering treasure trove beyond the enormous golden doors that Yogurt had just opened.

The captain's eye and grin widened as he rushed into the room, with Yogurt calmly following. Each treasure was no ordinary golden coin or gemstone, but rather some sort of mystical relic or intricate golden statue, each locked into its own transparent box on the wall. The pirate assumed that the keys were probably in yet another hard-to-reach room somewhere else. The royal spoke as he looked at the other: "This is one of my more private collections. As you can see, some of the cases are empty... which is why you're here." The pirate's grin disappeared as he took a step back. "Now you hold on just a minute! I've never seen this room in my li-" The royal waved a hand dismissively. "No no, you misunderstand me. I meant that I want you to fill them." The captain paused, his eye narrowing. "... Go on..."

Yogurt strolled around the edges of the room, motioning to the empty boxes. "As you can see, every box, empty or otherwise, has a label near the bottom of the lid. That is because each case is meant for a specific treasure, including the ones that, unfortunately, haven't found their way into my collection yet. Of course, these are not your everyday gemstone or trinket." He looked at the other. "These are the kinds of treasures you'll find buried deep in their own hidden lair, almost always guarded by ancient traps, maybe even monsters! The ones that sometimes hold a power inside them even more perilous than the trouble it took to obtain the treasure." Looking the other in the eye, the royal grinned. "... The ones that I want you to go get for me." The pirate looked skeptical yet intrigued, thinking it over for only a second before responding. "And why would I go get a treasure for ye if I don't even get to keep it?" That question only widened the royal's grin. "Surely, you remember our first meeting?"

"Aye, ye wanted to collect me ship."

Yogurt chuckled. "Yes, yes... but when you turned down _that_ offer, I proposed to pay for a ride on your ship."

"... What are ye gettin' at?"

"Oh, it's just... I remember that when I payed you, you seemed to think that the amount of payment was quite a lot. And, well, if I payed you that much just for one little boat ride..."

Yogurt could tell by the softening of Pirate's expression that he was starting to understand the deal. Still, the pirate gave the other one more question: "And how do I know ye won't be cheatin' me and payin' me less than what the treasure's worth?" Another dismissive wave from Yogurt. "Oh, that's simple. Being a treasure collector, I hired an appraiser to tell me the value of my treasures, just out of curiosity. They're the best in Yogurca, and trust me, that's really saying something. I trust them to tell me the exact value of each treasure you bring me... but honestly, I just care about having the treasure, not its real monetary value. Still, I do want to pay you fairly for your efforts.

"So I'll be paying you tenfold."

Stunned into silence, the captain simply stared at the other for a moment before finally speaking up again. "... Tenfold?"

Another wave. "Well, of course! Ten times the value of each treasure. I can afford it, don't worry."

"... Per treasure?"

"Per treasure, yes."

Still stunned, the captain stood there, a smile slowly spreading across his face before

_Fwump._

* * *

Pirate Cookie woke up laying on the docks, with two familiar faces standing over him, both smiling. The smile of the merchant's son was slightly smug, while that of the captain's recent recruit was a more innocent one. Sorbet Shark Cookie helped the captain up, while Yogurt leaned on an open crate full of maps before getting right back to business. "So, what do you say?" Confused, the shark-like cookie looked up at the captain, who looked back in return. "If we agree to get some treasures for him, he'll pay us ten times what they're worth."

Immediately, Sorbet ran behind the crate of maps and began scooting it towards the ship. Pirate Cookie opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped. Sure, this was a great deal, but... he did **not** like the idea of serving someone else. Judging by how many maps were in that box, this was definitely not going to be a one-time gig. On the other hand, these jobs were a good chance to delay something he had been dreading...

Sorbet had been part of the crew for a while now, but had only ever been on Pirate Cookie's adventures that did not involve actual piracy. Sorbet was not accustomed to land life. Being an ex-mercookie, Sorbet only knew that pirates were adventurers looking for treasure. Basically, Sorbet thought they were like any other adventurer, except they traveled by sea, braved storms regularly, fought with swords, and battled giant sea monsters... so basically an upgraded version of the average adventurer, really. Normally, Pirate Cookie would have no problem kicking a softie out of the crew, but... well, if it weren't for Sorbet rescuing him from the waves, he'd have been nothing more than little dough bits littering the ocean floor by now. Granted, if Pirate ever _had_ to die, he would have preferred that... but he definitely wanted a more dignified death than drunkenly dropping off of his own ship.

So not only did he owe this cookie a spot on the ship after what had been done for him, but even if Sorbet had not been the one to save him... exiling Sorbet, of all cookies, was one of the cruelest things Pirate Cookie would ever do. He had gotten to know Sorbet a bit better, and apparently, before finding a way to obtain legs, the shark had spent years in the sea in complete loneliness. Years spent longing to join the music and dancing that the mershark always heard on passing ships, and years of being feared from the very second someone saw a shark fin, crying out the dreaded word. Occasionally, the crew of the ship would go so far as to shoot at the shark. After associating that word with fear and hatred for so long, the cookie only preferred to be called "Sorbet". Sure, the ex-mershark was fine with being called "Shark" occasionally, but only in an effort to push the bad memories away. It was not comfortable to be called that, but... maybe, if people called the cookie "Shark" in a friendly way enough, it would make Sorbet forget.

The night that Sorbet told the captain this tale, both of them sitting next to each other at the ship's bar... Pirate cookie broke one of the only rules he had ever made for himself. In case there was ever a mutiny, or in case of a traitor among his crew of thieves, he had promised himself not to get too attached to any of them. Getting to know them, becoming friends... that was a guarantee. Pirate Cookie just had to make sure that, at any time, he could completely sever their ties to his heart with no damage done to it whatsoever. This was practically expected of all of them, as all pirates knew that they must stay as strong as steel. Only the toughest cookies could be pirate material... and as Pirate watched the cookie next to him retell such a story with that smile staying in place the entire time, he knew that this cookie was more than tough enough to qualify. Granted, Sorbet was barely holding back tears... but still smiling. 

These memories rushed through the captain's head as he watched the ex-fish. Sighing, Pirate Cookie looked at the royal, who had noticed his expression. "Oh come now, what's with the hesitation? My offer has everything a pirate could want: Adventures and treasures galore!" The captain glanced at the shark, who nodded excitedly. Then Pirate's gaze went back to Yogurt, who kept trying to sweeten the offer. "If it's the treasures themselves, you can keep them if you want. You'll have obtained them all by yourself, after all, so this is really more of a trade deal... But in that case, those maps won't be for free." A moment more of silence passed before the captain sighed, looking at the royal. "... Be there a time limit on when ye want these in?" His smile triumphantly widened a tad before Yogurt shrugged. "No, but if you want, I could get together a rescue ship if you don't come back in a month's time. Just in case, you know." Chuckling, Pirate's grin finally returned. "Oh, there'll be no need for that..."

"Oh, I know _you'll_ be fine," replied Yogurt. "I meant for your crew." Staring for a second, Pirate asked, "... Ye know they all be ghosts, right?" Pointing a fan at the finned cookie, Yogurt answered, "Not that one." Looking from Sorbet to Yogurt, the captain smiled. "Ah, ye needn't worry about Sorbet! That one be one of the few cookies that can swim."

"Ah... even so," continued Yogurt, lowering his voice and leaning closer to Pirate, "no offense, but... that one looks awfully soft for a cookie partially named 'Shark'." His smile disappearing, the captain took a large step backward away from the royal, looking him dead in the eye as he did so. "Watch yer mouth." The royal sputtered for a moment, not knowing whether to be appalled at such a remark or to apologize, given that the joke was, admittedly, just a tad rude. While he did so, the captain strode up onto the ship, only speaking one word: **"LADS!"**

Instantly, five different ghost pirates picked up the crate, carrying the cargo onboard with ease. Sorbet tripped from having the weight that the shark was pushing being removed so abruptly, before quickly getting up and trotting onboard, smiling all the while. Pirate Cookie watched the scene before looking over at Yogurt. "We'll be back in a month or less!" With that, The Black Sugar was off, the captain seizing the first map he saw from the crate. Sorbet ran right up next to him, uttering those bubbly words only the captain could understand without a shell to translate: "This is gonna be fun! Right, captain?" Looking down at the smiling cookie, the captain returned the smile before looking ahead. "Aye... it will be."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: Edited the wording of a sentence.


	2. Chapter 2

Two whole months had passed. Pirate Cookie had done multiple jobs for Yogurt Cream Cookie by now, and had made so much gold that he had to store it off of the ship just so the sheer weight would not sink her. He had almost no regrets. Sure, the fact that he was working for someone nagged at him occasionally, but the rewards from his journeys helped silence that part of his mind for a while. He had even told Yogurt about the thought upon more inquiry of his hesitant expression, and the royal had told him a fact that did help ease his mind quite a bit:

"You're not an employee at all, really. You go get things for me, and I pay you, sure, but that doesn't make you a simple lackey. If anything, you're my supplier. I pay you in exchange for the transport and acquisition of valuable goods. You're not my employee; You're my business partner."

With more reasons not to regret his choice, Pirate Cookie almost needed no more. That is, until an all-too-familiar ship showed up. Unlike most times that the ship arrived, Pirate Cookie grinned, walking up to the top of the ship's rear. The Icepiercer sped towards The Black Sugar, with her captain standing atop the bowsprit as usual. One captain's icy gaze locked onto the other, her usual frown set on her face. "Pirate Cookie!" To her surprise, the pirate smiled joyfully, instead of his usual mischievous grin, waving at her from the ship. Another wave of confusion hit her upon the other's greeting: "Ahoooy, Icey!" Captain Ice Cookie had no way to tell if he was mocking her, or if he was genuine... but why would he be genuine?

With how her rival was acting, it was far too dangerous to simply attack him, in case he was planning something. Before she could come up with a new strategy, she noticed that The Black Sugar was slowing down, soon pulling up next to her own ship. Pirate Cookie came over, still smiling. "Ahoy there! Been a while, hasn't it?"

Unwilling to let her guard down for even a second, she snapped back, "Enough with your tricks! What are you up to?" The other captain backed away a step. "Why, Icey, I'm shocked," he lied. "I can assure ye, there be nothin' to worry about." The icy cookie raised a brow. "And why should I believe you?" Still seeming chipper, the pirate gave her a grin, pointing ahead. "Just follow me to the next island, if ye're so skeptical!" 

Of course, this could be a trap, but... Captain Ice knew the island ahead. In fact, it was barely an island at all. It was nothing more than a lump of sand barely poking its head out of the water enough to be seen, with a surface too small to even take five steps across without stepping into the water. That was the nearest "island" in that direction, so that had to have been what he was talking about. The water around the island was as clear as the stormless sky that day, so it was impossible to set any traps in it.

Sighing, she looked back at the pirate. "... Fine. But I don't want any tricks, understand? My ship will stay next to yours for the entire trip, and we will fire if you try anything. And I mean anything." Somehow managing to smile even wider, Pirate Cookie raised his hand, placing his hook against his chest. "No tricks. I swear on it." Of course, this was a bright red flag that he had to be lying... but if he was, he would not be so silly about it. He seemed... legitimately joyful, to be acting this way. Maybe, just for once, there really was no scheme involved... but Captain Ice would need to see that for herself.

Both ships arrived at the "island" side by side, as agreed, stopping at the same time. The air was tense as both crews watched each other silently, while their captains leapt from the bowsprit onto the sand, only one smiling. The pirate looked over to the other captain. "Now then, I assume ye be after me for the, er... legal troubles I've caused?" The question received a nod from Captain Ice, causing the other to continue. "And how much would ye say me bail would be?" As the other answered the question, the pirate began walking to the middle of the sand dune, seeming to dig around for something. "Well, with all the thievery you've done, on top of all of your vandalism, by now it's definitely far more than you could ever-"

She was interrupted by a loud rumble coming from the island. Chuckling, the pirate captain backed away, stopping next to the other captain as the top of the dune slowly slid open, revealing that the top had actually been a pair of sliding stone doors, hidden by the sand. The two shared a glance before walking up to the doors and peeking inside. 

Captain Ice gasped.

Under the island, there had been an enormous pit, with ancient stone bricks lining the walls. Some bricks had perfectly circular holes, hinting that something either came in or out of there. While the rectangular tunnel was about as wide as a small house, it was stuffed with so much treasure that if either one of them jumped in, they would be able to jump right back out.

His grin as wide as ever, the pirate looked at the other. "Would this cover it all?" Slowly, Captain Ice looked at him. "... How deep is this?" The pirate shrugged. "Oh, I didn't measure it. I just took out the gemstone at the bottom powering all of the traps, and figured it'd be a shame if all this went to waste." The icy one's eyes widened. "This is the Tomb's Tunnel?!"

The pirate stood up straight, shrugging again. "I think so, yes." The other stood tall as well, pointing both hands into the tunnel. "Legends say that it's at least a hundred feet deep!" The pirate captain simply nodded, causing the other to pause, looking into the pit again, then back at him. Steeling her expression, she glared at him. "... And I'm to assume you acquired all of this legally?" The pirate nodded again. "I have the receipts on board, if ye need any proof." Her brow raised again. "And just what could you possibly do to acquire this much money?" The pirate captain began walking back towards his ship. "Actually, I'm about to turn in another treasure to Yogurt Cream Cookie right now! Come along and see fer yerself, if ye want."

"Wh-!" She sighed, leaping back up onto her ship. "Fine, but we keep the same deal as this time. We stay right next to your ship, and-"

"And ye freeze me ship solid if I try anything. I know." The pirate leaned onto the railing, propping himself up on his elbows. "I suppose I've got some explaining to do, eh?"

* * *

Being a high-ranking member of the Navy, Captain Ice was allowed into Yogurt Cream's secret treasure chamber. She saw everything. The collection, the appraisal... that _outrageous_ payment amount... everything. During the entire walk back to the docks, she had been silent, deep in thought. Pirate Cookie, on the other hand, was rather chatty about this new deal. "That's why me ship was so much faster than normal! I'm getting so much gold that I have to empty me ship in my new Gold Hole after every job!" He paused for a moment. "... As ye can tell, I still be workin' on the name." Bubble noises came from the ship, causing the pirate captain to turn his head in that direction. "For the fifth time, we are _not_ calling it the Gold Bar! I don't care if it be rectangular, that be a lame name!"

Sighing, he looked at the other captain. "... Are ye alright, lass? Ye be even more stern-lookin' than usual!" He allowed himself a quick laugh before Captain Ice looked at him. "... How many jobs does he have lined up for you?" The pirate was quiet for a moment. "... Well... er... I've got a whole crate of maps, and that was just what he gave me when we first made the deal. That crate oughta last me for months, maybe a year or two." His grin widened. "And, even if I run out of treasure to find... we've been talking about _another_ kind of rare collectible." Skeptical of the other as always, Ice's eyes narrowed as she looked at the pirate. "... Like what?" The grin widened again.  
  
"Sea monsters."  
  
Ice's eyes went from narrow to wide. "Wh-?! Are you both insane?!" The pirate chuckled and shrugged again. "Oh come on, Icey, think about it: The lad's got practically endless funds. Not only will he have researchers to figure out how to take care of it, but he can probably make a nice big zoo for 'em! Not to mention the fact that the beasts can't harm a soul if they're out of the sea." He twirled his moustache with his hook. "Besides, catchin' the beasts is far more honorable than outright killin' 'em, wouldn'tcha say? Sure, ye've triumphed over this legendary sea beast, but... now it's gone. That's it. The party's over." The pirate pointed his hook at the other. "If ye _catch_ the beast, however... ye've tamed the untamable. Then _everyone_ who visits its little exhibit gets to see it, _and_ hear of yer tale!" He stood up straight, both arms behind his back. "And, of course, the thing lives a peaceful and happy life after that. Now, what more can ye ask for?"  
  
The naval captain was quiet for a moment before responding. "... I could ask how Yogurt could send a whole ship of cookies off to catch beasts known for devouring ships whole, if not tearing them apart." The pirate shrugged. "Well, that's because he picked just the crew for it! I can't die, almost all of me crew are ghosts, and the one that ain't is waterproof!" The last few words made the icy one tense up. "Sorbet can swim, _but that doesn't grant immunity to being eaten. Or torn apart._ " The other captain's grin faltered, the other adding to the fact before he could respond: "But I guess you weren't thinking about Sorbet, were you?

The grin was gone now, with the pirate pointing his hook at her again. "Now you listen here! Pirates _know_ that their lives are perilous. And we love it! I don't _care_ if ye got attached, Sorbet Shark is a grown cookie and can do anything that cookie sees fit! Whether it be death-defying or not! And ye _do_ realize that running through booby-trapped temples guarded by _monsters_ , on occasion, is only slightly less dangerous than sea-monster huntin'?" After a moment of silence, Captain Ice sighed. "... It is a captain's duty to take care of their crew." Scoffing, the pirate turned to leave. "Ye think I don't know that?" As he walked, he looked over at Sorbet, who was currently running around the docks with Peppermint Cookie. "SORBET! TIME TO GO!" The ex-mershark stopped, smiling and running over to the captain.

Sorbet stood in front of the other pirate, beginning to make bubble noises again. Peppermint Cookie walked over to Captain Ice as the exchange happened. Once Sorbet was finished, Pirate seemed surprised.

"But- Well, not now, we're about to-"

"oO0, oOOo0o00 00o! OoO0oO, o00?"

"... Well, I- Oh, quit lookin' at me like that!" Huffing, the pirate captain turned, looking back at Captain Ice. "... The shorties were wonderin' if me crew could take a day off and go to some place I've never even heard of." Surprised, Ice looked down at Peppermint, who nodded up at her. She looked back at the pirates. "... Would it happen to be the same place I'll be vacationing for a few days?" Pirate's palm smacked his face as he spoke. "Of course it is..." His hand lowered. "Wait, how are _you_ on break?" Ice shrugged. "Well, whenever I don't have a specific mission or any patrolling to do... I usually go back to pursuing you. That was supposed to be a back-up plan in case I finally caught you, but..."

The pirate captain sighed, looking down at the shark. All of Sorbet's life above sea-level was spent either on a boat or in some isolated, hidden chamber looking for treasure. The cookie had never experienced many of the most common parts of surface life; Sorbet had never even walked on carpet before! Of course, Sorbet probably wanted to spend time with a friend who had not seen the other in months, but... the captain knew that the ex-mershark just wanted to see the surface world.

Rolling his eye, the pirate captain began making his way on to the ship. "Fine." Sorbet made happy bubble noises, running up the ramp after him. As soon as he was on the ship, he looked over at Captain Ice. "We'll follow you, alright?!" Smiling, Ice nodded and went to her own ship, with Peppermint Cookie following.

The two shorter cookies of the crew waved to each other from their own boats, with Sorbet watching the Icepiercer begin to depart. The Black Sugar's captain was waiting at the wheel impatiently, his back turned to the flying carpet approaching from behind him. The captain still did not notice until he heard the familiar voice behind him.

"Yoooo-hoooo!~"


	3. Chapter 3

As Yogurt landed his flying carpet behind the captain, Pirate cookie turned to face him. "Oh- If it's about the next treasure, it'll have to wait. Apparently, we'll be taking a short trip." Smiling, Yogurt stepped off of his carpet, holding something behind his back. "Oh, that's nice! Say, where's that first mate of yours?"

"... Me what?"

"Oh- I'm sorry, I just assumed since, well, that one time I said something rude- excuse me, _unintentionally_ rude- you got rather defensive-"

"Speakin' of unintentional rudeness, we be needin' to follow the ship ahead of us, hopefully _before_ they sail outta sight."

"Oh- Alright then, take it." Seeming a little irritated, the royal unceremoniously tossed the necklace at the captain, who quickly caught it. Pirate Cookie took a moment to examine the gift, with its golden chain connecting to a rather large, gold-lined, elongated-hexagon-shaped jewel with a blue hue as deep as the sea. The pirate could almost sense the magic within it. It seemed dormant for now, but...

The royal smiled at the pirate's expression. "I'd heard that this jewel has magic related to the ocean. I figured that, well, since that shark person is _from_ the ocean, it might work... somehow. I never found out how to use myself, but since pirates know so much about oceanic legends, you'll probably figure it out." Pirate looked back at the other. "... Thanks, but... don't ye _collect_ treasures? Why give away this one?" Yogurt Cream shrugged. "Well, not much is known about the gem. There's not even a legend surrounding it, that I know of... and I'm a treasure collector! It could be magic, or it could be glorified jewelry. So I'm not that interested in it."

"Ah... Again, thanks, but... it's a bit long for Sorbet, ain't it? The cookie is rather short. At this length, the necklace would drag on the floor."

"I was wondering about that, but I wanted to offer it before you left again... I know a guy, so I _could_ get it resi-" Yogurt's eyes shifted from the pirate to someone behind the captain to the left. "Oh, there you are!" Pirate cookie turned to look, and saw Sorbet standing there. Absentmindedly, he put the treasure away before turning to face Sorbet. "What is i- GAH!"

Once the captain had turned to face Sorbet, he could also see that The Icepiercer had gotten rather far from The Black Sugar. Hurriedly, he ran to the edge of the railing, shouting to the crew. "TIME TO GO!" He ran back to the helm as Yogurt stepped back onto his rug. "I suppose I should be leaving then. Have fun!"

As he flew away, Sorbet looked at the captain. "What was he saying?" Still in a rush, the pirate shooed Sorbet away. "I'll tell ye later, go hoist the sails!" Sorbet simply saluted him before following his orders.

Pirate Cookie ended up forgetting to tell him about that necklace for the rest of the voyage.

* * *

Once the ship pulled into the port, Pirate Cookie was surprised to see what looked like an ordinary town. Once he and Sorbet left the ship, they met up with Ice and Peppermint. Pointing his hook towards the town, one captain questioned the other. "I thought ye said this was a vacation spot." Captain Ice nodded. "Well, yes. For me, it is. I've spent years straight working out at sea, so my version of a vacation usually isn't theme parks and going on tours." As she spoke, she removed her jacket, folding it up. The brown-haired pirate raised a brow. "Then what is it?"

Captain Ice handed her jacket to a sailor waiting nearby. "Faceplanting into a bed for as long as I'm allowed." She began walking off down the town's cobblestone road. "I'll be in a hotel if anyone needs me." Pirate sputtered for a second, pointing at Peppermint. "Wha- I'm not babysittin' for ye!" Still not stopping, Ice shrugged. "You won't need to. Peppermint doesn't need to be watched. Honestly, I'd be more worried about Sorbet."

"Why would-" As the pirate spoke, he noticed a shark was missing from his side. The next second, he spotted the curious cookie rolling around in the grass, only stopping to stare at a squirrel before trying to catch it. There was a moment of silence before the pirate captain sighed, putting a hand to his forehead. "... Kid... watch Sorbet for me, will ye?" Peppermint smiled, giving a quick "Ok" before walking over to the shark.

The captain sighed. Sure, he'd rather be out adventuring now, but if he left now, either Ice would think he was up to something and chase him, or Sorbet would panic at being left behind, or _something_ would go wrong today.

...

Maybe he needed a break, too. Maybe he should look around the place, relax in a tavern if they had one... but then again, he was a bit of a lightweight. If he did something stupid now, and here, Ice would never let him hear the end of it. No, he needed something to cool him off that would have no consequences... so nothing fun. He sighed, slipping into an even worse mood. Still, even if he didn't know what to do yet, he should probably change into something that would bring less attention to himself.

An unrecognized cookie made his way down the street. He wore a white, long-sleeved shirt, with black pants and boots. His long, brown hair was still rather unkempt since he had not particularly felt like brushing it today. He only had one brown eye, while a pearl filled the other, empty socket. Due to most cookies having white icing lining their eyes, most passers by did not notice the pearl until a second glance. For some reason, only one hand wore a rather long, black glove, but he kept it in his pocket most of the time.

Most cookies are not particularly nosy, so he was able to take a seat at the bar without anyone taking much notice of the pirate. The boot had been a bit of a snug fit over his peg, but he would worry about getting it off later. The same went for his now-glove-covered hook. While most softie cookies were rather boring to him, at least they minded their own business. Maybe he could actually have a quiet night out.

...

_What was wrong with him?_

Usually, he would be out on the seas by now, ever-searching for only the most dangerous fun. Even if he _was_ beached like this, he would love the attention! People would recognize him, for the stories he'd made for himself. They would be muttering about him, either for his brave and daring side, or the side they feared. Honestly, both were the same to him.

... So why was he acting like this?

He was dragged out of his thoughts by the barkeeper. "What'll it be?" Somewhat startled, the pirate's gaze shot up from the table. "Oh- er..." He sighed, propping his head up on his hand and letting his gaze drift back down. "Just water, I guess..."

 _Water?! Have ye gone mad? Of all the times to get tipsy, this would be it! Forget that cold-hearted seahag, just do anything to get out of this stupid funk!_  
  
The bartender simply nodded, walking off to go get the water. Meanwhile, the pirate sank back into his thoughts. What was missing? Like Yogurt said, he was still adventuring, he still got treasure... He was even going to go hunt monsters, eventually! ... So what was missing?

...

Missing...

Miss...

Mischief.

The cookie grinned at the thought of the word alone. _That_ was what he needed. That was what he had been _thriving_ on for years... He had just never realized it. The rush of knowing that he was doing something forbidden. That feeling of rebellion. Mischief was why he had become a pirate in the first place, and the captain of his own ship, too! He lead his _own_ life, and made his _own_ rules. If he wanted something, he _took_ it.

As the bartender handed him the water, the pirate glanced up at him. "Thanks, lad." He downed half of the glass in one swig before getting up and leaving the bar. Luckily for him, the water was free in that bar. 

The captain strode down the street, grinning. His eye darted around his surroundings, practically begging to find some trouble to cause. As this old feeling coursed through the pirate, he wondered why he had ever stopped causing the chaos that he loved so much.

Then he remembered.

Sorbet.

_Oh, who cares about that runt? Sure, that fish saved his life once, but any other softie in that shark's situation would have done the same. Pirate had been so hesitant to tell him the truth, and for what? Not to hurt the little softie's feelings? So that fish wouldn't run crying off the boat? Well, let the runt cry then! Let it storm off during a storm, that way maybe that thing would get lost! Then maybe it'd finally never bother the captain again!_

...

What?

No...

No, he would never say that about Sorbet, that... that was so selfish... His grin disappearing, he stood there on the street, putting his hand to his forehead. Before anyone could notice his state, he ducked into an alleyway. He kept walking, his gaze on the ground, until he walked up to a puddle. He stopped for a moment, staring at himself. The pearl had fallen out a minute ago, but he had no care for that in the moment. He looked into the puddle. The reflection's eye was full of doubt. Its hair was a complete mess. Without his uniform, the captain saw his reflection as nothing more than some sad man.

He went straight to the ship after that, and straight into his bed, not even bothering to change his clothes back.

* * *

In the middle of the night, a fish-like cookie sat by the lake, staring into it. The cookie was quiet for a few moments before trying to speak. Only bubble noises came out before the cookie's mouth shut, as an attempt was made to focus on the vibrations from the throat.

"... Oo... m... Mm..."

As the first non-bubble sound was managed, the practice was interrupted by a few coughs. Immediately afterward, however, the cookie went right back to trying.

"... Mmm... Mmnn...

"Mmmm... mmmIinnnn..."

With the shark's vocal chords not being used to making vowel sounds on land, the cookie had to practically bark the vowel just to make the sound. Still, the sound was made, and that is what mattered to Sorbet. Volume control was no problem, as long as it was possible to make the right sounds.

"Mmm... min... t..."

Sorbet stopped to stare at the lake, looking the reflection in the eye.

"Mm... Mint!"

There was a gasp, quickly followed by the cookie's hands flying over the mouth that had finally managed its first word out of water.

The next audible sound was ecstatic giggling as Sorbet leapt up and began dancing around the shore.

"Mint! Mint! Mint! Mint! Mint!"

Sorbet felt lucky to know of such an easy name to practice as a first word. "M" is one of the easiest sounds to produce, with the speaker only needing to keep their mouth shut and make some noise. "N" was the same, except with the speaker's mouth open and their tongue touching the mouth's roof. Really, the "t" had been the hardest for Sorbet to practice.

Eventually, Sorbet calmed down after getting an idea. Sure, speaking one name was quite the milestone, but... what if...

The cookie knelt by the lake again.

"... Hhhh... K... Ca... tih... tin..."


	4. Chapter 4

_Normally, the captain would roll his eyes when someone tried to tell him some sob story, but... admittedly, this one had sucked him in. He now stared at the cookie next to him, who was somehow still smiling after recounting a tale of crushing loneliness and occasional hatred that lasted for years on end. The mug in Sorbet's hand was shaking as it was set back down, the holder hardly able to hold back tears. Soon, Sorbet had settled down enough to speak again, with only the captain understanding the sounds of the bubbles._

_"... Y-you know, I... I know you only l-let me stay b-because of what I did..." The cookie chuckled darkly, a hand going to Sorbet's forehead. "A-and I couldn't even k-keep your leg on..." Feeling very unsure about the situation, the captain hesitantly reached out and retracted his hand, only managing a "N-no, you... it's fine, I..." Pirate had no idea how to comfort people. Normally, he never wanted to, but now he felt like he had to at least try. The other continued. "... I-I guess, what I'm t-trying to say is..." Sorbet looked at the captain. "... I-I can leave, if... y-you want me to..."_

_The pirate could tell from the look in the other's eyes that even suggesting the option was emotionally crushing. How was Sorbet still smiling? The captain's expression changed from soft to firm. "Now you listen here. Ye're a part of this crew now, so ye ain't leavin' this ship without my say-so." The new recruit gasped, the smile slowly widening. "Y-you mean...?" Pirate smiled as he nodded. "Aye. Captain's orders."_

_Sorbet threw himself at the other, clinging to him. The captain froze. If it had been anyone else, he definitely would have shoved them off by now._

_..._

_That was the first hug that Pirate Cookie had given in a long time._

* * *

Peppermint Cookie was awoken by something tapping on the hammock, followed by a familiar voice.

"Mint."

"Hmm...?" Drowsily, the cookie sat up, looking over the hammock's edge at the source of the voice. "Sorbet... what are you doing up so early?"

"Mint!"

"Hold on, let me get my shell." Peppermint carefully slid off of the hammock, walking towards the aforementioned shell, which was laying on a desk across the room. "I need it so I can understand you, rememb-

"..."

The cookie froze before finishing the sentence, though the thought was already complete. Slowly, Peppermint turned back around and watched as, for the first time, the other's lip movements match the sound that emerged.

Although there was no need for her to be up this early, it was practically instinct for the captain to do so at this point. Instead of marching around her ship for the morning routine, however, Ice stood staring through a hotel window as the sun rose up, seeming to rise up from the ocean itself. Smiling, she sighed calmly at the scene of the fiery orange sky contrasting with the ocean's deep blue hue. 

The sudden knocking at the door confused her. If anyone else was up as early as this, why would they be outside of her door? Room service, perhaps, but she had not ordered any. Shrugging, she opened the door, smiling at the familiar faces. "Oh, good morning, you two." She went back inside the hotel room, motioning for the other two to enter with her free hand. 

Sitting in the room's chair next to a desk, she picked up a cup of coffee that she had made earlier. "I know I don't need it this morning, but... old habits, I suppose." She looked at the other two, who were visibly barely able to hold back giggles. Raising a brow, she had to ask. "Alright, what are you up to?" Peppermint smiled, pointing to the other. "Sorbet learned something new!" Chuckling, Ice responded, "Oh, is that so?" She took a long sip from her mug.

"Mint!" 

Although it _was_ a funny scene, Sorbet _did_ feel a little guilty when the captain simultaneously spat out her coffee and tumbled out of her chair.

By the time the three made it to the docks, it was not so early in the morning anymore. In fact, the time was nearing noon. And yet, when they made it to The Black Sugar, the crew informed them that their captain was still in bed. Sorbet lead the other two to the captain's quarters just in time to meet the ship's captain as he was leaving the room, dressed in his usual pirate uniform.

Pirate Cookie seemed surprised to see the three. "Oh. Er... Mornin'...?" Ice was smiling calmly, while the smiles of the other two were... less calm, to say the least. She nodded, smiling. "Good morning." Pirate's surprise quickly turned to confusion as he asked, "Why are ye all-"

"Captain!"

The other three were left staring at the shark. Sorbet's smile was wide as the cookie watched the captain, who seemed to take a minute to process what just happened. After seconds of silence, Pirate Cookie finally spoke.

"... Oh...

"Oh! Right! Wait here!"

As he ran back into his room, it was now the rest of the group's turn to be confused. Soon, Pirate emerged from the room with Yogurt's gift, handing it to Sorbet. "Sorry, I kept forgettin' to give ye this." Sorbet quickly forgot about the situation's strangeness and smiled, staring at the gem in awe. Finally smiling, Sorbet's captain continued: "Aye, Yogurt gave it to me to give to ye before we set sail. We were in a bit of a rush to leave, so I forgot."

The other two cookies in the group peeked over Sorbet's shoulder at the treasure. Peppermint smiled, while it looked like cogs were turning in Captain Ice's head. Soon, she simply shrugged, looking at Sorbet. "That's a brilliant shade of blue... Go ahead, try it on." The shark nodded, trying on the necklace... causing the jewel to hit the floor. Sighing, Pirate Cookie's smile left. "Aye, I warned him about that... He said he knows a guy who can shorten the chain, so... just wait until we get back to Yogurca, I guess." The other pirate nodded before the jewel was tucked into Sorbet's shirt.

* * *

The four of them strolled around the town together, with Sorbet on Ice's shoulders and Peppermint staying next to the vacationing captain. While Sorbet enjoyed using the new legs and wanted to help strengthen them, it got disheartening quickly when the group noticeably slowed down to a snail's pace for the ex-mershark to keep up. So, instead, the cookie was being carried by someone who had carried Sorbet around an entire ten-floor tower, and thus was used to it. 

While Captain Ice normally would not feel at ease with Pirate Cookie staying in the back group, she figured that, of all days, this time might be the safest for him to do so. After all, he was acting much less mischievous than usual. In fact, his usual grin had hardly been on his face at all today. He did not necessarily seem sad, just... empty.

At one point in their walk, Peppermint ran up to a rather colorful poster. The paper depicted the outlines of cookies dancing and playing under a sky of fireworks, with the center of the poster focusing on a rather ancient-looking fountain. According to the writing on this poster, the event would start at six, with no set time to end the party.

Once the others got a glance at the poster, Captain Ice was the first to comment on it. "I know I said my vacations are usually for relaxation, but... I suppose I could try this, if Peppermint wants to go." Peppermint nodded before looking at Sorbet, who looked at Pirate, who looked back at Sorbet. The pirate captain shrugged. "Of course ye're goin', it'll be yer first party on land." The ex-mershark cheerfully jumped about, shouting happy bubble noises, accompanied by the occasional giggle. Ice looked around at the three. "So it's settled, then." Her gaze then focused on the two pirates. "I assume we'll see you at six?" Sorbet nodded energetically, while the shark's captain gave a simple "Mhm".

* * *

As agreed upon, the group met back up at six. There was a path at the back of the town leading into the forest and directly into the clearing where the fountain was. The two smallest cookies seemed excited, while the captains were polar opposites. Ice was just happy to see the others happy, while Pirate Cookie still seemed... distant. He was still expressionless when the group reached the end of the path, into the clearing with trees lined with lights, multiple different food and game stalls set up, and even a few juice bars near the clearing's center. Still, all stalls seemed to keep their distance from the fountain, most likely not wanting to outshine the main attraction.

Peppermint and Sorbet immediately ran off to enjoy the attractions. While Sorbet's new legs were still fairly weak, the cookies arms were not, making the dart and ball-throwing games fairly easy. Of course, Sorbet was unsure if the captain would allow any cutesy stuffed plushies on board besides his own teddy bear, so the prizes were all given to Peppermint. The ex-mershark seemed determined to try out every game, every food stall, and every attraction in sight. With how busy The Black Sugar always was, this might be the only land festival Sorbet would be in for a long while... even though this was the cookie's first.

This festival was so different from the parties on board. A sense of pure joy was in the air. The atmosphere felt so much more... wholesome. Sure, one might prefer partying with their crew than with dozens of complete strangers, but... this felt right. The cookies running the stalls were not there just for the money. One could see in their eyes that they enjoyed any smiles that their stall caused. Everyone was so nice here. Back on board, pirates would tease or even mock each other for being soft, but here... It felt good for Sorbet to be able to _really_ loosen up for once.

Later into the party, the captains found themselves next to each other at the juice bar. Pirate was just there since it was one of the quieter areas, while Ice was relaxing with a drink. There was a small smile on her face as she watched the fountain from her seat. "You know... there _is_ a reason I picked this island specifically. I know I came here to relax, but... this fountain is actually a back-up plan if something major goes wrong. Sure, I can be contacted through the ship's radio if anything goes wrong navy-wise, but this is where I would get an immediate warning if-"

Upon finally looking at the other's seat, she realized that Pirate Cookie had left his seat, now walking straight into the forest.  
  
Huffing, she turned her attention back towards the fountain. Upon looking in that direction, she noticed that Sorbet had been approaching the juice bar. The shark must have seen Pirate Cookie leave, since Sorbet then ran towards the forest.

Pirate stopped in his tracks upon hearing the other's voice. Not bubbles, but the cookie's actual voice.

"Captain!"

Sighing, he turned to face the other. 

"Captain! Capta-" Sorbet stopped to cough. The other pirate spoke. "That's enough fer one day. Rest yer voice." Sorbet nodded, and the next words were back to being bubbles. "Hey, why'd you leave so early? I thought you loved parties."

"I'm a cookie of the sea, Sorbet. You know that."

"Well, yeah, but..." The cookie seemed unsure before finally asking. "... Can we stay a bit longer?" Pirate just stared for a moment before answering, "Stay as long as y'want. I'll be headin' back to the ship." Sorbet seemed confused. "Aw, c'mon. You're not gonna stay cooped up on the ship for the entire trip, are ya?" The question was met with silence. "... Captain?"

Sighing, the captain looked at Sorbet. "... Ye've always wanted a life on land, right?" The shark seemed confused as to why he'd ask, but answered anyway. "... Actually, I... I just wanted some friends, really... I saw you all sailing by, and... you looked like you were having so much fun..." The cookie looked down, studying the short legs that had allowed said friendships to ever happen. "... I just... wanted to be a part of that..." Sorbet looked back up at the other pirate. "I-I know I've said it before, but again, thank y-"

"Given the option, would ye pick the land or the sea?" Sorbet's smile almost left upon being interrupted, but still stayed when the cookie replied. "I mean... our ocean adventures are fun, but I do like spending time away from the sea. The ocean kinda reminds me of... y'know..." The full moon was slowly rising in the sky, the light from which cast the shadow from Pirate's hat over his eyes.

"... So ye never wanted to be a pirate."

Sorbet was visibly shocked. "N-no, of course I did! I... Besides the partying, I thought you guys were so cool! The adventures, the constant action... everyone on the ship is so cool!" The more the shark spoke, the more excited the bubble noises became. "They're all as tough as nails, and never feared death even _before_ they died, and-" The pirate interrupted Sorbet again.

"How about the stealin'?"

There was silence for about ten seconds before the shark spoke again. "... What?"

"The piracy, Sorbet. Pirates steal."

The shark let out a nervous laugh. "C'mon, getting treasure isn't stealing! Most hidden treasure temples are in unowned areas, plus hiding a gem in a booby-trapped temple long after the owners of the gem itself are long dead is just hogging-"

"That's what pirates do. That's what the cannons are for. We invade other ships, and threaten to blow a hole in it if the crew doesn't hand over what they have."

For a moment the shark went quiet again. "... I... B-but _you_ don't-"

"We haven't, Sorbet. Not since y'joined the ship."

Another long pause.

"..."

Finally, Sorbet broke the silence, chuckling a bit. "Well, it's a good thing Yogurt Cream made that deal with you, huh? Now you never have to steal again!" The captain sighed. "... I can't do that forever, Sorbet..."

"Sure you can!"

"Sorbet..."

"The maps we have on board right now will last us _plenty_ of time! I mean, aside from the actual adventure, sailing to the treasure's location takes a week at the least, and another week to get back! Some of them could take up a whole month!"

"Sorbet."

"A-and we've got a whole crate full of those! That box alone could last us _years_ , and Yogurt probably has more!"

_"Sorbet."_

"And after that, he's got sea monsters we can catch! You even talked that out with Captain Ice back at-"

**"SORBET!"**

Once again, the shark was silenced. Sorbet's smile was hardly able to stay on, with the bright blue eyes mirroring that fact. "... W-... we can..."

"We won't, Sorbet."

"I-... Captain, I-"

"Don't call me that."

Sorbet's eyes widened, locking onto the pirate. The shark's head was already shaking side to side before Pirate Cookie even said it:

"I'm not your captain anymore."

Without another word, the only pirate there darted off. Sorbet gasped, trying desperately to follow. "Captain, wait-!"

While the pirate dashed around the trees and dodged the forest's low branches and high roots, the ex-mercookie collided with and tripped on almost every obstacle. _"CAPTAIN!"_ The bubbles had stopped by now, and pirate cookie put his hand and hook over his ears to block out the word. Even still, he could hear Sorbet shouting it over and over.

Sorbet, who still had rather weak legs, was unable to run for long. The cookie soon collapsed on the ground, still shouting. The shark could only watch as the pirate kept running, until he was out of sight. Still, the shark kept calling, hoping in vain that he would return.

_"CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN!"_

Sorbet was interrupted by a cough.

_"CAPTAIN! CAPT-"_

This time, a fit of coughs made the kneeling cookie nearly double over. 

"C... Captain... C-..."

The shark pulled out that morning's necklace. The reflection inside had lost its smile, tears forming in its candy eyes. ". . ." Sorbet hugged the gem tightly.

_"... C-Captain..."_


	5. Chapter 5

From the very moment that the two heard Sorbet's screams, Peppermint and Captain Ice dashed into the woods. Captain Ice, however, suddenly stopped and looked back towards the clearing after hearing a strange noise. The noise turned out to be exactly what she thought it was as she saw a thin pillar of water shoot directly upwards into the sky. Peppermint Cookie walked up next to her, staring at the pillar. "... What's that?" The captain looked from the other cookie to the water, then back at Peppermint. "I... need to go respond to that. I'm sorry, but it's important. Will you be ok helping Sorbet on your own?" Peppermint nodded. The other nodded back, and both darted in different directions.

As the captain rushed back into the clearing, just like her, all of the other cookies were staring up at the water pillar. Specifically, they were staring at the bubble on the very top. The bubble that was quickly coming down the pillar. Soon, the bubble touched the fountain's spout, causing both the bubble and pillar to disappear, and the cookie inside to leap forward onto the ground.  
  
Moonlight Cookie quickly surveyed the scene before spotting Captain Ice, instantly running over to her.

Peppermint ran as fast as possible to Sorbet, finding the shark still clinging to the necklace, sobbing. Having never seen the cookie do so much as stop smiling before, Peppermint was not only shocked, but intensely troubled by the sight. Peppermint knelt next to the other, putting a hand on Sorbet's shoulder. "Oh dear, are you alright? What happened?" Barely able to speak through gasps and hiccups, the shark looked at the other, explaining everything with a single word: "C-... Captain..."

Peppermint seemed... not too surprised, really. "Oh..." The cookie looked at the forest ahead, then back at Sorbet. "... Well... he can't be far, right? I mean, Captain Ice has a ship, too." Peppermint looked back at Sorbet. "If we hurry, maybe we can go find him and talk to him." Sorbet said nothing, staring at the amulet. ". . ." The shark's gaze stayed on the forest ahead for a moment before Sorbet sighed shakily. The cookie looked back at Peppermint and nodded. Smiling, Peppermint helped the other up, and the two began making their way back towards the festival.

That is, they _were_ heading that way before Captain Ice ran by and scooped both of them up.

He knew that the three would go after him. In fact, he had already made a set destination in mind. The captain just hoped that the destination truly was unpredictable. As he hurried on board, the crew noticed his sullen expression, but said nothing. Being ghosts, they could sense the waves of negative energy rolling off of him. They simply obeyed his commands, doing all that they could to rush the ship out of the port. Luckily for them, some wind had began to whip up, giving the sails an extra push.  
  
As soon as the ship was moving on-course as fast as it could, the captain briskly walked into his quarters, slamming the door shut behind him.

By the time the four had made it to the ship, The Black Sugar had gotten a good, long lead. Quickly, Captain Ice sped onto the ship, carrying the two smaller cookies, with Moonlight Cookie following. With the captain's crew working quickly, The Icepiercer was soon speeding after The Black Sugar. While the wind helped their sails as well, the weather seemed to unsettle Moonlight. While the captain was busy with keeping up with the other ship, Moonlight sat down with the other two cookies and began to retell what she had told Captain Ice:

"A long time ago, a being of pure malice made its home in the sea. In its pure, gelatinous form, it was helpless under the waves, unable to break free. All it needed, however... was a vessel. With there being so much of it, it was able to possess multiple creatures at once. For a long time, a large part of the sea was inhabited by corrupted fish, whales, dolphins, and... if it could ever get its tentacles on them... cookies. When it possessed another being, it did not just control them... The vessel itself would... change... They were somewhat recognizable as what they used to be, but... unless they could be captured and purified, they were stuck like that. Nobody could ever break out of its control alone. Sea Fairy and I helped contain this being long ago. We thought it just wanted complete control of the seas at first, but... then it started to make something.

"Out of magic, it made a crystal that shot a beam up out of the ocean. The beam stopped midair, forming what was essentially a small black hole. It sucked in everything nearby... living or not... Nobody knew how to stop it... until a small blob of corrupting slime came off of a possessed creature, and flew into the hole. Once the slime hit the hole, it seemed to weaken for a moment. Eventually, enough of it got sucked into the hole, and the two materials cancelled each other out. The hole was gone, but... some of the slime was still here.

"We sealed it away, and trapped it in the ocean, but... it got out..." Peppermint cookie looked at Sorbet, then back at Moonlight. "How do you know it got out?" Moonlight's expression darkened. "... Sea Fairy Cookie... tried to stop it..." Peppermint gasped. "Is she ok?" 

"She didn't get corrupted, but... she was hurt pretty badly. Right now, she's being healed."

Sighing with relief, Peppermint smiled. "Oh, well at least she's alright..." The cookie then noticed where Moonlight's gaze was: Both she and Sorbet were staring at the necklace. Specifically, their gazes were on the gem. Moonlight looked at the Shark. "Where did you get that?" Still staring at the necklace, Sorbet's eyes began to tear up. Noticing this, Moonlight Cookie tried changing the focus of the question: "N-nevermind that, it's just... that gem could be useful..." Both looked back up at Moonlight, with Peppermint asking the question: "... How?"

* * *

The pirate's hook slammed into the wall, the tip of the hook digging into the wood.

_Stop it._

His hook dragged down the wall.

_Clearly, that shark had been softening him up for too long. He had to let go of that runt._

He remembered the other captain's words: "It is a captain's duty to take care of their crew."

_Why should he throw away his life for some stupid softie of a fish that had stowed away among his crew for months, without any invitation?!_

He remembered the night at the bar, where a cookie trusted him enough to share a personal tale of pain.

_A captain had to be ready to let go of a fellow pirate at any time, no matter what._

He remembered the first sincere hug he had ever given anyone in a long time.

_The ties to the heart had to be cut._

_They had to be._

_He had to._

. . .

His sword had not missed the tie. To break through such a thick knot took a sharp sword and a hard swing.

The sword had sliced clean through the tie...

... and dug into his heart.

And as the gash on his metaphorical heart leaked, so did his only eye.

* * *

"Oh... Ok..." Peppermint gave the one across from him a determined smile. "We can do that." Moonlight smiled at the two. "Thank you... Now, do either of you have any questions?" Peppermint's hand raised, causing the starry-haired cookie to chuckle before nodding at the kid, who then asked, "Where is the monster now?" Moonlight's smile faded, but nervously returned as she spoke. "Oh... well... actually, we're headed right towards where it should be. We're lucky Pirate Cookie happened to go this way."

For the first time in the entire conversation, Sorbet's head shot up, the shark's gaze locking onto the moon cookie. She seem startled before the shark made a dash for the door. Both of the others got up to follow. "Sorbet, wait-!" The ex-mershark made a mad dash for the edge of the ship, despite being a slow runner. If Sorbet could just transform, maybe... As long as the current was not too much trouble... With this wind, the waves might be easy to ride, really...

Moonlight Cookie soon spotted Sorbet, reaching a hand towards the cookie and shouting, "NO! DON'T GO INTO THE WATER!" Just before the cookie was about to leap over the edge...

... Sorbet froze.

Something was wrong.

Something was _terribly wrong_ with the ocean.

Its depths looked... so much darker than before. Not literally, but... the water itself gave off a strong feeling of malevolence. 

Moonlight Cookie yanked Sorbet away from the ship's edge, peeking into the water itself. "... We're getting close..." 

The three then had their attention yanked towards the bowsprit of the ship, where they heard Captain Ice Cookie yelling.

Hesitantly, the ghost quietly tapped on the door, which soon flew open with a "WHAT?!" Backing away, the pirate sputtered, "I-I'm sorry, sir, i-it's just... C-Captain Ice has caught up with us..." With a growl, Pirate Cookie dashed onto the deck, hurriedly making his way towards the back of the ship. Sure enough, Ice was standing on the bowsprit of her ship and yelling at his. "Pirate Cookie, you need to turn around!"

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

"Listen to me! We mean no harm, just turn your ship around!"

"THIS BE YER FINAL WARNING! ONCE YE'RE IN RANGE, I'LL BLOW A HOLE IN THAT GLORIFIED ICEBERG O'YOURS!"

Before Captain Ice could make another attempt at a warning, the other captain had already ran out of sight, and probably out of earshot. Sighing, she practically flew towards the ship's helm, yelling at the other three as she passed them: "PLAN B!" Nodding, Peppermint and Sorbet waited by the bowsprit, standing on either side.

Within a minute's time, The Icepiercer's bowsprit could almost touch the back of The Black Sugar. Suddenly, Captain Ice Cookie dashed from the back of the ship's deck all the way up to the front, grabbed one of the smaller cookies on each arm, ran up the bowsprit and leapt off of the end. The three barely made it on board, but once they did, they barely made it down to the deck before being swarmed by ghosts. Captain Ice kept Peppermint Cookie close, fending off the pirates herself... but she was honestly in a mild panic throughout the fight.

She had lost track of Sorbet.

Down below the deck, the ship's captain sighed, striding back and forth across a hall. Not only had the others caught up with him, but now he needed to figure out what to do with them. He could not lock them in the brig, since Captain Ice was a figure of high importance. Her capture would bring too much attention. Stranding them out here in the middle of the sea on one of the ship's rowboats might work, but... something told him that the sea was unsafe for such an option right now...

He was dragged out of his thoughts upon seeing a familiar figure enter the hall. The pirate turned his frown into a snarl, now having to face the one cookie he did not need to see right now. "You..." He drew his sword and stalked closer, hoping to scare the other away. As he got closer... he could see the tear stains on the other cookie's face. Pirate was barely able to hold his hardened expression in place.

And yet, as the captain neared, sword drawn... Sorbet's smile finally returned. Growling, the captain pointed his sword at the other. "... I thought I made it crystal clear that I never wanted t'see yer face again." Still smiling, Sorbet said, "... Cookie's don't do well in water." Confused, the pirate was quiet for only a moment before snapping back, "What are ye babblin' about now?!"

The shark continued. "When cookies get wet, they soak the water up. They get all soggy, and their dough turns darker... You can see it..." The captain growled back, "Like the signs of weakness on yer face?" Sorbet's head tilted to the side. "... But... you're not weak... and you have them, too." The pirate's false fierceness faded, but only for a moment before he stiffened himself, sword still raised. "That's none of yer business! Ye don't belong on this ship anymore, so y-"

Before he could finish, Sorbet stepped closer, body dangerously close to the blade. Sorbet's gaze locked onto the pirate's now-wide eye. "... What's the matter? You want me off the ship, right? That's what the sword's for?"

"I-... Well, obviously, I-"

"And you're gonna use the sword if I don't move, right?"

Silence.

"You don't have to. I'm not that tough. You could probably knock me out yourself easily."

The thought made the pirate visibly uncomfortable. Visibly.

Sorbet continued on. "Really, you don't even have to do that. Maybe just pick me up by my shirt with your hook and-... Well, no, I might manage to wiggle off of that a few times... Probably land on my face, since I'm such a klutz... Maybe get a few splinter-"

"SHUT UP!" The pirate slammed his sword into the wall, leaving it stuck there. "I OBVIOUSLY WON'T HURT YA, Y-"

Before he finished, the other cookie clung to him.

He stood there for a moment, tense and frozen. ". . . Get off of me."

"You can just push me off if you want to." 

"... Liar..."

"Hm?" Sorbet looked up at the captain, whose eye was becoming wet.

"You said... That night, you told me you'd leave if-"

"But you don't want me to."

And that was all it took before Pirate Cookie's act completely crumbled.


	6. Chapter 6

Both ships were significantly calmer, only mere minutes after the fiasco that was finding Pirate Cookie. At the moment, Moonlight Cookie had finished explaining the situation to the other. Nodding, Pirate looked at her. "So ye want us to catch a monster? Or at least, weaken it until ye can magically contain it again?" Moonlight Cookie sighed, "It's a bit more complicated than that... We need to intercept it before it gets to the gem again. If it starts that orb again..."

"Ye mean the black hole?" Moonlight looked up at him, then at the floor. "... It's... similar to one, but... there's something I didn't mention to the others..." Her gaze returned to him. "... The last time that the hole collapsed from sucking in too much of the ooze... it exploded."

"... Oh." Both were quiet for a moment before Pirate Cookie shrugged. "Well, we can manage that. That's only to be worried about if the thing even gets to the crystal, right?" Moonlight nodded, causing the other to continue. "Then ye've nothin' to worry about. The crystal needs to be activated by the thing, right? And it needs a lot of energy fer it? We can stop the bigger possessed beings, and even if some little possessed fish got to the crystal, it'd take a lot of 'em to even start it up, right?" Another nod. The ex-pirate smiled. "Then ye've got nothin' to worry about. This ship hasn't had a good fight in ages, so we've got plenty of cannonballs at the ready." Upon the other's expression changing, he added, "O'course, I mean to hit the goopy stuff itself, not whoever's in it. Don't aim for the center, right?" Yet another nod.

Moonlight nodded, then paused before speaking again. "... So... now that everyone knows what to do... we'll need to prepare soon."

"Aye."

"... So... uh..."

"... Aye?"

"... Are you going to let go of Sorbet so we can go-"

"This hug was long overdue, get off me back!"

As both ships neared the area that Moonlight Cookie directed them towards, both the sky and the sea became darker, especially the sea. For the last few minutes of sailing, the water's color was almost tar-like, even beginning to thicken the closer they got to the beast. Both ships were armed to the teeth, all cannons loaded. Since Moonlight was on Pirate's ship, she had used up a large amount of magic imbuing every cannonball with purification magic. Every hit that landed on a possessed creature would burn away at any sludge that the shot made contact with. While Moonlight did not have enough magic to do the same to The Icepiercer's artillery, that ship's cannonballs already had freezing properties. The Icepiercer would immobilize the target, while The Black Sugar would burn away at the beast.

Captain Ice insisted on scouting ahead, standing on the bowsprit as always. She was the first to see the bubbles rising from the sea's surface in the distance. As both ships neared the bubbles, both captains noticed that the bubbles seemed strangely thick. Sure, the sea had become ink-like at this point, but the water itself was not _this_ thick. This meant that the bubbles had to be coming from the owner of the tentacle that then shot out of the water, rocking the nearby Icepiercer. Before it could slam into the ship, the captain of The Black Sugar himself fired a cannonball, which smacked into the tentacle's base. A screech was heard from underwater before the tentacle retreated as Pirate let out a triumphant laugh.  
  
He stopped once the rest of the kraken-like monster emerged from the sea, standing slightly taller than both ships. Its red, beady eye glared down at him.

Of course, standing directly beside a loaded pirate ship is never a good idea, as five different cannons then struck the beast, sending it stumbling back. Captain Ice waved her hand, directing the ship to go behind the beast, as cannons shot the squid from behind. The monster roared again, now unsure which to attack first: The ship that froze, or the ship that burned.

Peppermint Cookie, waiting in the crow's nest, picked up the conch shell, which now had Sorbet's necklace wrapped around it. The second that Peppermint blew a note through it, the gemstone almost seemed magnetically attached to the shell. As Peppermint played, the song spread across the area. The monster seemed less agitated. Even while being shot at and hit with cannonballs, it seemed... drowsy. It seemed like it was trying to fight the feeling, but to little success. The most that it could do now was occasionally slap a ship with a tentacle. Sometimes, its red eye even flickered a light blue... but only for a moment.

With all of the action happening around him, Pirate Cookie had not noticed Sorbet climbing into one of the cannons. "WH-! **OY!** " He ran down from the wheel towards the cannon. "WHAT DO YE THINK YE'RE DOIN-" Before he could reach it, one of his ghostly crew members had already fired it.

Sorbet held out a glowing sword. A glow that was very similar to that of the cannonballs... As the shark flew by the many-legged monster, the sword slashed along its side, leaving a glowing gash. The beast shrieked as the shark landed safely on The Icepiercer, which was now circling the beast parallel to The Black Sugar. The pirate ship's captain sighed with relief, smiling at the shark's creativity.

He told one of his crew to take the wheel, retrieving his own sword and bringing it to Moonlight. Unfortunately, the ship was too unstable for her to focus long enough. Besides the kraken's constant shrieking, the beast kept slamming both itself and its tentacles into either ship. Sorbet had been smart enough to come to her about the sword before the battle began. 

Speaking of the shark, Sorbet soon landed back on The Black Sugar. Besides being a bit dizzy, the flying fish seemed fine. Fortunately, the second strike had been just as much of a success as the first. Unfortunately, the monster had taken notice of the new flying threat.

The squid slammed a tentacle onto The Black Sugar, not breaking anything, or anyone, but still getting a good grip on the ship. Dizzily, Sorbet stumbled over, slicing down onto the tentacle, with the blade cutting halfway through the appendage. Screeching, the beast yanked its limb away, causing the ship to rock, but otherwise remain mostly unharmed. Unfortunately, due to the monster's slimy nature, the sword had gotten somewhat stuck after slicing so deep into it.

This caused Sorbet to come flying back with the tentacle, lose grip of the sword and smacking into the monster's head.

Noticing, the creature raised a tentacle to crush the cookie before Captain Ice fired a perfectly-timed shot, freezing the tentacle with seconds to spare. The now-frozen tip of the tentacle dropped into the water, causing the monster to turn its attention to The Icepiercer, letting out another shriek. Meanwhile, on The Black Sugar, the chaos was only worsening as the captain tried not to panic. "COOKIE OVERBOARD! NOBODY AIM FOR THE HEAD! GET CLOSER! **KEEP THE TENTACLES BUSY!** "

By this point, the monster had two out of its six tentacles frozen beyond use, with two more significantly weakened. While it was too large for the depth of the water to allow an escape, it submerged anyway. Pirate ran to the edge of the ship, scanning the water's surface... sighing with relief when Sorbet surfaced seconds later. The relief was short-lived, however, as Sorbet was raised up out of the water by the small-island-sized, pitch-black mass of tentacles surfacing under the shark. The creature flung its tentacles upwards and outwards, revealing that it was upside down, its beak now revealed. It opened its beak, unleashing an ear-splitting screech. The upward motion had flung Sorbet far up into the air. Already dizzy from the cannons, the horrible noise, and now flying up yet again out of nowhere, the shark hardly registered what was happening upon falling into the monster's beak.

Once the beast snapped its beak shut, both ships went almost silent. 

Captain Ice stared on in disbelief.

Peppermint was stunned, stumbling backward into a sitting position.

Pirate Cookie's eyes were locked onto the scene in front of him.

His expression of shock quickly turned into one of pure, unrestrained rage as he let out his own bellow, rushing towards the ship's edge to meet the incoming tentacles.

* * *

Sorbet clung to the sticky threads, quickly climbing towards the cocoon-like structure in the center. The shark had managed to grab a string on the way down, now in the middle of a mass of black, inky strings, all connecting to a large mass in the center. Using the only natural weapon that the shark had kept since transforming, Sorbet bit down onto the cocoon, tearing away large chunks at a time and spitting them down below, into the tunnel leading to acid. For minute after minute, the shark kept biting down, tearing away the gunk, spitting it downward...

... until, finally, one blue eye could be seen inside the cocoon.

* * *

The whole time, the cannons had been firing even more fiercely than before. Both captains had their swords draw, slashing at any attacking tentacles with a passion... especially Pirate Cookie. The shell's song was no longer being played, as its player was too panicked to focus. Once the monster stopped its attack, however, there was finally a pause. It screamed and slapped its tentacles against itself, seeming enraged but unsure on what to take its rage out on. Soon, both ships could see a light glowing from inside it, shaped like a cookie...

... before the whole thing exploded.

Dragging Pirate Cookie below deck, Moonlight screamed, "DON'T LET IT TOUCH YOU!" All cookies complied, with nobody getting hit with the flying gunk. Below the deck, it sounded as if it was raining seals outside. The gunky rain continued for a few seconds... then there was silence. The second that the commotion had stopped, Pirate Cookie burst out from below deck, flying over to the ship's side to scan the sea's surface. Soon, a familiar mershark rose to the surface, carrying an equally-familiar squid towards the ship.

Once both cookies were brought on deck, Pirate Cookie immediately hugged Sorbet before lifting the short cookie up. "NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!"

"But I freed Squid Ink."

"I- WE WOULDA DONE THAT EVENTUALLY!"

"But I found out where its heart is."

"WE DON'T NEE-... wait what-" He set Sorbet down, as Moonlight Cookie walked over to the two. Thankfully, being well-acquainted with the sea, Moonlight could also understand Sorbet's explanation: "On my way down, I ran into this big web of the sticky stuff. It was weird... The stuff's just thick liquid, but it was all stringy. And Ink was wrapped up in layers of it!" Moonlight Cookie seemed somewhat surprised. "Yes, the material was thicker around something it was trying to protect... but how did you break it? You left your sword outside."

"I bit it."

"YOU WHAT?!"

"Calm down, I didn't swallow. I just spit it into the acid."

"I-... Well... That might be alright..." She looked around at the slime-covered deck. "... I'll start purifying this before someone else gets sick." By now, The Icepiercer had pulled up next to the other ship, with Peppermint and Captain Ice carefully making their way to the others. Ice smiled down at the shark. "... You were very brave out there. You know, I should see if there's a medal for surviving the belly of a beast..." Sorbet's hands went behind the shark's back. "Aw, that's not fair... I didn't even make it to the stomach!" After Pirate translated, Ice smiled at Sorbet. "Lucky you, then."

"Yeah, I just ripped its heart apart with my teeth is all."

Everyone went quiet.

"... Ok that came out wrong-" Before the shark could re-explain, Pirate let out a laugh. Smiling as usual, Sorbet began to giggle along...

... but stopped to cough.

The others became concerned as the coughing continued, and only worried more once the shark coughed up a single black blob, everyone's eyes widening in horror as it splattered onto the deck.


	7. Chapter 7

The shark's breathing quickened as Sorbet backed away from the group, before dashing towards the edge of the boat. Pirate stretched a hand towards the shark, hesitant to give chase. "SORBET, WAIT-!" He looked over at the starry-haired cookie. "MOONLIGHT! YE CAN PURIFY SORBET, RIGHT?!" The shark stopped to glance at the moon cookie, tar-like goop beginning to pour from the shark's mouth.  
  
But Moonlight didn't respond.  
  
She was too busy staring at the black orb slowly floating up into the sky.

Ice gawked at the scene. "What-?! But how?!" Pirate seemed to care more about other troubles at the moment, running over and shaking Moonlight by her shoulders. "ANSWER ME! DON'T JUST STAND THERE, CURE SORBET!" Finally, she looked over at the shark, gasping. Pirate kept shouting. "DO SOMETHING!" Moonlight's look of shock turned to one of sadness as she watched the ooze begin to wrap around Sorbet's body and limbs.

"... I... I can't..."

"WHAT?!"

"It's already latched on, I can't-"

"WELL YE CAN TRY!" He grabbed her arm, trying to pull her towards Sorbet... but stopped, upon seeing the shark. The goo was flowing around the shark. Eyes flickering red, as Sorbet leapt over the edge of the ship, Sorbet's captain was given one final word from the shark:

**"Ğ̴̡̨̞̪̩̯̤̱̮̜͙̲̰̰͕͗̉͆̄̐̒̑̐̑̋̕O̷̡̫̺̱̜̝̯͕̯̔!̴̨̛̳̮͚̟̮̰̅͛̃̃̄̽̈̌̈"**

Captain Ice picked Peppermint Cookie up and dashed back onto her ship, looking at Pirate over her shoulder: "We can cancel out the hole if it sucks up too much ooze! Lead Sorbet to the hole!" While he did hear her, Pirate was busy staring over the edge of the ship.

The dark waters became unsteady. Waves rippled as the wind above the area began to howl. 

A large dorsal fin as big as the ship's sails rose from the water before submerging again.

Sighing, the captain turned, shouting new orders to his crew. Soon, both ships began to turn back around, now heading for the orb that was now sucking in the sea. The more rocks and water that it sucked in, the more that the hole grew... but the growth paused every time it sucked in some of the black sludge from the sea. Moonlight Cookie looked down at the water, noticing that the dark area of water that the ships were in had a tail. There was one long, thin protrusion leading from the dark mass under them all the way to the crystal.

The kraken was a distraction. They were all kept busy battling the beast while the real creature stretched itself thin to reach the crystal.

... The kraken...

"Squid Ink!"

She ran over to the unconscious cookie, taking them below deck. With the creature's ties broken, if there was any remaining goo within Ink, it would be very weak by now. It could only hold on well if the attachment was fresh... like Sorbet's...

As soon as the ship was on course, Pirate looked behind him at the water. He stared at the spot where Sorbet wend under, keeping a close watch...

... just in time to see an enormous, red-eyed shark with thick, muscular arms and clawed hands leap out of the water, gripping its head tightly as it unleashed a guttural yell.

Seeming to want to control more cookies, the ooze risked getting closer to the orb to chase the two ships. As the shark sped after the ships, it swam between them. With a heavy heart, Pirate Cookie made his way to the cannons. Captain Ice had done the same, nodding at him from The Icepiercer. Sighing, he took aim...

The shark snarled with each hit, slamming into the ships with every other blast. It was a wonder that neither was knocked down, but with the storm becoming increasingly wild, it was only a matter of time before one of the ships finally tipped over from the impact. With the speed of the ships, there was no way that they would lead the creature to the orb quick enough, if it would even follow them close enough for it to be sucked in.

Every shot fired may as well have been shot into Pirate's heart. Not only had he already lost Sorbet once, he had torn the two apart himself. He was not going to lose Sorbet again. Not after he had just gotten his friend back. After this, he would stop his stealing for good. They could go back to Yogurt. The jobs would last them for years, if not their entire lives. Not only would the life be clean, but they would still have amazing adventures. That was all that Sorbet wanted, right? An adventure with friends. Of course, with this being Sorbet's wish, Pirate Cookie had to help grant it.

Captains take care of their crew.

The increasing speed of the wind did help the ships move towards their destination faster, but it only made the journey more dangerous. If they went any faster, they would either crash into the now-visible towers of jagged rocks around the hole, or get sucked in themselves, with no time to turn away. But they could not lead the creature too close, either. They wanted it to hang on to either the rocks or the sea floor, sucking in just enough to destroy the hole and, if possible, free Sorbet. If it sucked in too much, or if that much goo did nothing... No. None of those thoughts, not now. He needed to focus. The timing had to be perfect.

Suddenly, he saw Captain Ice's head whipping around in a panic. Distracted, he looked up from the cannon at The Icepiercer. Soon, he could hear her voice, even through the whirling winds:

"PEPPERMINT!"

The icy captain kept yelling the cookie's name, running around the entire deck. Soon, after the shark slammed into the ship again, she was able to find Peppermint.

Her eyes only needed to find the source of the high-pitched scream.

Peppermint hung there, dangling from the mast's ladder by one hand. In the other, the cookie held the conch, with the necklace still wrapped around it. Captain Ice seemed to yell at the cookie to come down, but instead, Peppermint ascended. Once inside the crow's nest, Peppermint stood and, with the wind threatening to blow the cookie away if it got any stronger, Peppermint blew into the shell.

The blue gem glowed as the music was heard, sounding crystal-clear, even through the winds. The shark slowed, soon stopping. The hulking mass of ooze stood up as much as it could on its arms, and blinked... its eyes turning blue.

For once in hours, Pirate relaxed as his smile spread. "... Sorbet..." Peppermint kept playing, the wind itself even becoming quieter in the presence of the music. The shark looked slowly at the two ships before turning its gaze to the orb.

". . ."

The shark lunged in the direction of the orb. Realizing what was about to unfold, Pirate Cookie bellowed a "NO!" before launching a harpoon into the shark's back. As the massive monster made a mad dash towards the orb, the ship was dragged along with it. The ex-pirate's mind was racing. At this speed, Sorbet would go right into the hole. No slowly sucking the ooze off, no chance of... In an act of desperacy, he tried to turn the ship so it was going slightly to the left of the orb. If he could just redirect the shark's path enough, maybe...

The shark turned, noticing the ship. It looked at the rocks surrounding the orb. Nearing the orb, it ran to the left, then back towards the orb, looping the harpoon's cable around one of the towering rocks. Now too far from the song, its eyes began to flicker red, with the creature letting out an occasional scream. It leapt to get away from the orb... but was sucked too far backward to advance. Screeching and clawing, it managed to hook its hands onto that same towering rock.

Rapidly, the ooze flew off of the creature in chunks. First, the tail disassembled completely, then the rest began to fall away, slowly making its way towards the head. As more goo was ripped away, the creature's shape shrank, trying to keep a form with whatever it had left. The harpoon began to loosen, slipping out of the ooze and hooking onto the rock's edge.

The Black Sugar was secured by the harpoon, but still being pulled backwards by the hole. Using his hook to climb across his ship's floor, Pirate Cookie finally climbed to the harpoon, onto the gun, and hooked his hook onto the cable. Carefully, he used both hand and hook to inch across the wire. He could feel the hole's grip waning with every blob that flew into the orb, but with every moment that the suction decreased, he could feel the increase in the dangerous energy now flowing out from the orb. He remembered what Moonlight said. The last time that the orb sucked up too much ooze...

By the time he made it to Sorbet, the shark's hands were free, clinging desperately to the rock. There was enough ooze stuck to the cookie to fill ten barrels, but it seemed too weak to climb back onto Sorbet, while still strong enough to hold on.

"SORBET!"

He held out his hand. Dizzily, the shark looked up at the captain... then smiled. The moment that the cookie grabbed Pirate's hand, he tried to inch his way back... but was unable to do so with just his hook. At this point, the suction was too strong for Sorbet to risk climbing down onto Pirate's legs. If even one hand let go for a second, Sorbet's untrained land form arms might lose their grip. Just now, when the cookie grabbed the captain's hand, Sorbet nearly slipped away and into the hole. If not that, then if Pirate switched hands to get a better grip, the hook might slip off if Sorbet grabbed it. The hook had held on thus far, but... admittedly, even climbing back with his hook was a risky move for Pirate to do. Then again, what choice was there?

... Was there another choice?

Still smiling, Sorbet looked up at Pirate. "... Captain..."

"We'll be fine, Sorbet, if I can just get ye to-"

"We can't make it like this, captain."

"I... Don't talk like that! I can-"

"If it takes in any more ooze, it's gonna explode."

"I know, I can feel it from here, but-"

"Captain."

"What?!"

With the still-connected ooze strongly clinging to the cookie, the shark looked down. "... I know I've said this before, but..." Sorbet looked up to meet the captain's gaze.

"Thank you... for everything."

Sorbet let go of Pirate's hand.

The moment that the only available ooze touched the orb, a blinding light flashed throughout the area as the bubble of raw energy finally burst.


	8. Chapter 8

The air was clouded with dust and debris as Captain Ice's rowboat made its way around the wreckage. Chunks of The Black Sugar littered the water in differing sizes, some still sinking while the smaller pieces floated in place. The water, now being even deeper due to the new crater that the orb had blown into the sea floor, was a dark shade of blue-green. 

Luckily for Ice, the storm had vanished the very moment that the dark orb had. Even though the orb was gone, anything that it had sucked in had gone with it. While she knew that the crew of the ship was almost all ghosts, she had been searching through the fog for the only two that were not. Sorbet could swim, sure, and Pirate could turn into a ghost at will, but... that explosion was so terrible, it caused a tidal wave that threatened to tip The Icepiercer upon hitting the ship. She had searched for a few minutes now to no avail... until she saw a familiar silhouette, standing alone on a raft-sized piece of his ship's debris. Captain Ice heard him, however, before she saw him.

"SORBEEET!"

She kept rowing towards the sound, and could soon make out the shape of Pirate Cookie, frantically pacing across his tiny raft, hat missing. Ice could hear him, repeatedly calling out to his crewmate, again and again, despite never being met with a response. He stopped for a moment and stared at Ice, who had began waving at him from her boat, but almost seemed discouraged once he figured out who was rowing it. As soon as the two were close enough to see the other's face, Pirate ran to the raft's edge, to ask the other, "Have ye seen Sorbet?!"

As she shook her head, the other groaned, hesitating before carefully stepping into the boat. "It's a good thing ye brought this. I had an idea of where Sorbet went, but cookies can't exactly paddle with their hands..."

"I understand," she replied as she began rowing to where the pirate pointed at. "It's a miracle that you survived such a blast, but... why isn't Sorbet with you?"

Sighing, the pirate looked her in the eye. "... There was... some ooze still attached to Sorbet. It wouldn't let go, and we couldn't hang on long enough to wait for any more goo to fly in on its own so the hole would blow."

She stopped rowing. "... Wait... what are you saying?"

"... Sorbet decided that the nearest goo might work, and... let go of me hand..."

Captain Ice stared at him for a second, before her gaze gradually turned downward. Once she had stayed silent for what Pirate deemed to be too long, he looked from her to the oars impatiently. "Well? Get goin'! Sorbet hasn't been answerin' me, somethin' might be wrong!" Sighing, the cold one looked up at him. "... Pirate Cookie... Sorbet can't be here."

Pirate shot up from his seat. "I thought ye be a captain, not a quitter! Row!"

"Pirate, even if Sorbet didn't fall in-"

"Sorbet flew towards it legs-first, the goo was on Sorbet's legs, and the hole exploded! So I know Sorbet ain't in the hole, because the goo was sucked in first, then it blew immediately! Sorbet's still out here!"

"Even so, I... That explosion destroyed _everything_ nearby. It blew a crater into the ocean floor. The tidal wave it made nearly knocked over my ship."

"And?! So the hole exploded, that was the plan! I was close to it, and I'm fine!"

"But Sorbet was closer."

"I know that, but-"

"Sorbet was right next to the orb when it exploded. Your ship was much farther from it than Sorbet, and now it's in pieces."

"I..." Pirate stomped his peg against the boat's wooden floor. "I KNOW SORBET'S OUT HERE!" He tore his gaze away from Ice, gripping the edge of the boat and staring into the water's depths. "... I... I _know_ it, I..."

Memories returned to him, one of that night in the bar. Of the first sincere hug he had given anyone in years.

His gaze stared past his reflection. "... I... Sorbet's here, I..."

He remembered the most painful night both of them had shared. The sound of Sorbet screaming out for him while he just ran away echoed in his mind.

Pirate's grip on the boat's edge tightened as he struggled to keep his voice steady. "... S-... Sorbet _has_ to be here, I-..."

He remembered the hug that Sorbet had given him, finally breaking his chains of doubt. He remembered hugging back, never wanting to let go.

The one-eyed captain fell onto his knees. " _... I-I... I can't-..._ "

One final memory came: The look in Sorbet's eyes before letting go. The words rang in his head.

_"Thank you... for everything."_

He let go of the ship, holding his head as the drops fell into the water. Ice knelt next to him, putting a hand on his back.

Soon, however, she stood up again, her gaze fixed on the horizon. The two could hear familiar music as a faint light glowed in the distance. In another rowboat, Moonlight and Peppermint floated closer, with Peppermint playing the shell again. As they neared, Pirate could only stare at the necklace, still wrapped around the shell. He jerked his head to the side, tearing his gaze away from the sight.

Once in earshot, standing on the boat's edge, Captain Ice spoke to the others. "What are you doing back here? I thought you were chasing it away."

Peppermint kept playing, while Moonlight responded. "Really, it's more like we're trying to corral it. The song chases it away, sure, but it also weakens it. If we just keep playing around it... It'll take a while, but we could wipe it out this way."

"What if a storm comes?"

"... I... We'll wait it out in The Icepiercer if that happens."

Sighing, Ice sat back down. "Alright... You said the song weakens the ooze? Does it have any power at this point?"

"Well, it seems that the crystal itself was damaged, because now the ooze can barely move... Its powers must have been linked to the crystal. But yes, the song actually loosens and eventually destroys the ooze. It's not even strong enough to lift itself up, so it can't grab and possess anything else, at least."

As the song drew closer with the boat, Pirate's gaze locked on to the water a small distance away, behind the path of Moonlight and Peppermint's boat.

Bubbles.

Without warning, he grabbed the oars, doing his best to push the boat towards the bubbles. Confused, Ice looked at him before following his gaze, as the others soon did as well.

Her eyes widened.

She called to Moonlight and Peppermint. "We'll go check the bubbles, keep playing!" Moonlight nodded, and Peppermint still continued to play. When the two captains were about halfway to them, the bubbles came faster for a moment before something finally floated to the surface.

Floating there, with the inky ooze still stuck around the cookie's body, was Sorbet.

Yelling the cookie's name again, Pirate got up and rushed to the boat's edge, with Captain Ice having to grab the back of his shirt before he would have ran into the water. As soon as they could reach the cookie, they carefully hauled Sorbet into the boat while trying to avoid touching the ooze. Captain Ice rowed to Moonlight's boat as Pirate stayed by Sorbet's side. Moonlight gasped as she saw the trio's boat.

Peppermint stopped playing, eyes widening upon seeing the boat's contents. "Sorbet!" Pirate looked at Moonlight, trying his best not to be rude. "Can ye cure Sorbet _now_?" Moonlight knelt next to the shark. "... Hmm... There's a good bit of ooze left, so it might take a while, but... yes, I believe I can fix this." Sighing with relief, Pirate looked down at Sorbet, smiling... until he saw the ooze move.

Yelling, he leapt up and took a step back, with Ice nearly jumping into the other boat. Quickly, Moonlight took the necklace from around the shell and put it around Sorbet's neck. The gem clung to Sorbet's chest, making a sizzling sound as it hit the ooze. After seconds of silence passed, Moonlight sighed with relief, looking at the others. 

"I was worried about this... Sorbet's ooze has a vessel, so it's slightly stronger than the rest... I can't stop the spread and cure Sorbet at the same time. Squid Ink only had a few drops of ooze left, so it wasn't strong enough to grow back, but... there's too much here... so I would need to leave the necklace on to cure Sorbet, but..." All four cookies looked down into the water, darkened by the sludge that lay at the bottom. Eyes full of uncertainty, the four stared at each other... before Captain Ice saw something in the distance.

The four followed her gaze to see something scaly emerging from the sea in the distance, rapidly approaching their boats. It soon drew near, glowing and changing shape, taking the form of a blue, heavily-armored, winged cookie, who smiled at Moonlight. "My apologies. Have I missed the party?"

Huffing, Moonlight glared at the dragon grumpily. "Yes, you did. And this unconscious cookie here would have gotten blown into crumbs if the remaining ooze didn't cushion the blast." She motioned towards Sorbet, causing the dragon's head to tilt curiously. "What was this little one doing so close to the blast in the first place?" After one more retelling of Sorbet's self-sacrifice from Pirate, the dragon's expression softened. "Oh... Such a brave soul..."

The dragon looked down at the ooze below. "Hm... I suppose I should help clean up this mess..." Moonlight nodded, sitting next to Sorbet, her hands beginning to glow. "If you find anything else corrupted, bring it to me, ok? You're better at destroying than healing." The dragon shrugged. "As is a dragon's nature." With that, the dragon dove back into the water, and the two boats began rowing back to The Icepiercer.


End file.
